Vital Employee Training Needs to Adapt to the New Normal

1. Vital Employee Training Needs to Adapt to the New Normal

Now is the time for us to look after the people who work for us. When a company steps up at a time like this, it builds loyalty, commitment, and long-lasting teams.” – Arjun Agarwal, Director, Cinerama and Founder, Ontum.

 

Across the world, workforces are a formidable and complex eco-system involving several factors that impact all related decision-making. Aspects like gender and salary parity, the balance of employees and gig workers, technological advances, the need for micro-specialization, prospects for growth, are all part of the machinery that is the workforce. Adding a global pandemic to the mix has complicated things in an unprecedented manner.

There have been widespread layoffs – a survey by the Institute of Management Accounts (IMA) says that 20% of Indian companies had to let go of most, if not all, of their employees. This figure is the highest in the region, followed by UAE. Industries have seen a muted growth, if at all, and career trajectories have come to a standstill, especially for new entrants. In its wake, the pandemic has changed dynamics in the workspace too. It has brought in a new era of working from home – with employees now having to focus more on the work-home balance and working in solitude. Managers have realized the necessity to focus on the mental health of their employees. Additionally, the gig economy has seen tremendous growth in India possibly going up to 90 million jobs in the non-agriculture sector in the next decade according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group.

While job losses have been high, there has been an increased demand in specific domains like cloud computing, data-specific domains, and cybersecurity, among others. An area of concern though has been the high rate of attrition of IT professionals amidst huge demand and the opportunity to work from home for practically any company around the world. On-boarding of recruits amidst lockdowns and work-from-home situations has been largely online and in a rapid manner.

With such a dynamic scenario in the workforce eco-system, training is important now, more than ever. It needs to be dynamic enough to address the broad needs of the industry, especially those that are currently evolving. It also needs to look at specific issues that have gained prominence in these times. With the right kind of training, you can help your employees:

  • Minimize the spread of COVID-19.
  • Help them serve customers more sensitively in these times.
  • Reduce day-to-day errors that could impact business negatively.
  • Make efficient use of tools and technology at their disposal.
  • Work with diverse employees.

Here are some forms of training you can focus on or introduce:

Health and Safety Training: While basic knowledge about health and hygiene – personal and while interacting with one another – is abundant, it is important to keep reiterating it. When new employees come on board, training them in the company’s safety culture is important and will help set expectations of the company from their recruits in this regard.

Training for sales and customer interaction: Interacting with customers is no longer what it used to be. Every company has evolved new processes on how they interact with clients and potential customers. Modes of communication, tone of language, etiquette, and even the way you discuss a company’s offerings have all been altered to suit the sensitivity of the current situation. Training employees to meet this new code is essential.

New employee training: Hiring new employees to fill in empty spots or to meet the demand of an economy that is opening up can lead to lapses in the onboarding process. This can prove harmful to the company as mistakes are bound to happen. Training new employees in the protocols of the company is critical to ensuring that you start on the right foot. A single act from an untrained employee can result in mistakes leading to bad customer experiences which does not bode well for a company.

Online security training: With a larger number of people working from home, the need to understand cybersecurity is high, especially when dealing with important company data, transactions, and virtual meetings. Many companies adopt several new software or technology to cope. Training your employees on best practices when using these is essential to seamless functioning. Besides basic how-to guides, employees will need to understand possible vulnerabilities, the technology’s policies, and possible consequences of ignoring protocol.

Training on workplace behavior: With more people working from home, there is a need to create a training module that speaks about workplace behavior – online interaction etiquette being primary. Not muting your microphone or turning off your camera at the right time can often mean that an unexpected burp or unfolded laundry thrown on the treadmill is there for all to hear and see!

The module should also address what constitutes inappropriate behavior, how to ensure open lines of communication, how to report a possible issue, recognizing signs of mental health concerns, and seeking help in these trying times. This smoothens the process of transition from the workplace to work-from-home which many are struggling with. It also provides a framework of functioning for recruits.

Covid-19 is forcing employers to create an eco-system that helps workers attune to the new reality. I leave you with this quote by Andy Grove, CEO, Intel Corporation: “There are only two ways a manager can impact an employee’s output: motivation and training. If you are not training, then you are neglecting half the job”.

Five Essential Qualities of a Successful SME Employee

5 Qualities the SME Employee of Today Needs to Imbibe

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. — Late David Brinkley, Newscaster, NBC and ABC

A key asset for any business is its skilled workers. They play a crucial role in the constant growth of a business and its reputation in the market. A strong team that believes in the direction the company is taking and the work they do ensures a collective effort towards success. Such a team will be able to face challenges especially in an unprecedented world event like the Covid-19 pandemic. Media reports have shown that the pandemic affected MSME earnings in India, by as much as 20% to 50%, with micro and small organizations taking most of the brunt due to lack of liquidity.

The immediate fallout of the pandemic has been the shifting to a remote working set-up, ensuring the least disruption in work processes. Adapting to a new work-home balance has been hard on employees, and companies have recognized this fact. In companies where there has been a higher focus on mental health, flexible work-from-home protocols and support from the organization to help with the transition, employee retention has been higher.

The onus of dealing with such unprecedented times however does not lie only with the employer. Employees have a crucial role to play in keeping things afloat and helping an organization adapt to the evolving rules of the game, as we continue to deal with the pandemic even after 15 months. A 2020 Gartner study concluded that the requisite number of skills needed for a single job increases by 10% annually. Almost one-third of the skills that were considered necessary for the average job in 2017 will lose relevance in 2021. The pandemic has simply accelerated the need for an employee to reinvent themselves to stay in the game. Here are some qualities that SME employees should cultivate in the evolving work environment:

Ownership of Role in Company: With so much change taking place around us all the time, employees will need to step up their game and take ownership of their positions in the company. Much like entrepreneurs, they will need to depend more on themselves to chart a course ahead, as opposed to relying completely on their organization. This is especially applicable to entry-level employees who have completed necessary training when joining the company. Being self-motivated enough to hit the ground running is key to ensuring success.

Identify Areas to Upgrade: Organizations and employee roles are evolving quickly in the current scenario to adapt to the needs of the market. Skill sets need to change, upgrade and merge to help keep up. Training methods will now have to evolve to include modules on remote working, online workspace etiquette, cyber-security, physical and mental health. An employee can proactively identify areas that need to be addressed and collaborate with the company to ensure these are carried out.

Enhancing Digital Capabilities: A 2020 McKinsey report says that around 85% of the companies they surveyed had accelerated their digitization programs. Such digitization is only going to increase, making it necessary for employees to keep up. An employee needs to work on getting comfortable with the technologies the company plans to work with. They will also need to understand the various metrics of evaluation involved and come up with ways to make the best use of the technology being adopted, in their respective roles.

Improving Communication Skills: Seamless communication has always been a necessity in any organization. Now, more than ever, the right communication skills are required, not just within one’s area of expertise, but across platforms. Being able to make presentations online or on phone instead of in-person; ensuring brevity with specifics in written communication, and making efficient use of all forms of communication will ensure complete engagement with colleagues.

Adapting on the Move: As companies are working out the best ways to enhance employee productivity and ensure ideal customer interaction, working models are bound to change. Employees must adapt to the changes, even if it makes them slightly uncomfortable. Adding new dimensions to the role and opening up to new possibilities is the requirement of an employee in these times.

The changes happening in the corporate and business worlds because of the pandemic are here to stay. The new requirements of employees and organizations will continue to evolve and one must keep pace. It may be a tough ask for some, but it is not an impossible one. To build a new world, every employee must come to the table with the best they have to offer. This idea is best summed up with this quote – “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it” —Lou Holtz, Legendary American football player

Advantages of Being Social About Your Learning

learning

“It isn’t just what you know, and it isn’t just who you know. It’s actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living.”

  • Bob Burg, Best-selling Author of Endless Referrals and The Go Giver

Being social about your skills, your learning and your abilities can go a long way in furthering your career and helping you reach your goals. And yet, selling yourself is something that you may shy away from. This could be because you feel others may construe it as bragging. This is a valid argument. In this blog, we will see the importance of being social about your skills and knowledge. We will also discuss how you can do this without coming across as a braggart!

Why Talk About Your Accomplishments?

When you are dedicated to furthering your career or your goals, the first thing to do is to keep your eyes open to opportunities. There’s no way in knowing how these opportunities will present themselves. Here are three importance facets to being social about your strengths.

  • Referrals

88% of employers say that employee referrals are the #1 best source for high quality applicants, according to a John Sullivan research. Obviously, those referrals are highly valued by employers. This is the most important reason why it is crucial to talk about your skills. You never know who is listening and through whom you may get your next big opportunity.

  • Networking

“The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work. Marinate on that for a minute.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

Since studies show that 85% of critical jobs are filled via networking of some sort, it makes complete sense to work your connections and tell them about your skills.

  • Personal Branding

It is important that you start thinking of yourself as a brand. A Forbes article entitled Why Personal Branding Is Key To Career Success puts it well: “Your brand is an indication of what you have to offer, and can make or break your success. It’s also indicative of confidence, credibility, and an ability to prioritize.” Brand building is synonymous with promotion and raising awareness, which brings us back to the importance of telling others about your skills and strengths.

Where Do You Start?

When networking, we tend to pass over the most important of our brand advocates – our friends and family. They are the most loyal and effective ambassadors of your brand. A survey on How Millennials Navigate Their Careers showed that the most common approach used by millennials to finding employment was referrals from friends, relatives and others (45%). While many of us start this way, we often underestimate the value of these connections as we build our careers and reach out for greater aspirations.

I recently came across an interesting term: connectional intelligence. Connectional Intelligence is defined as “the capability to consistently deliver breakthrough innovation and results by harnessing the value of relationships and networks.” Spreading the word through relationships we already have is often an untapped source for excellent referrals.

When you talk about your skill set, qualifications and experience, it allows your connections to understand what it is that you do. They will be able to appreciate what your role is and If an opportunity opens up with them or with a friend of a friend, they will know exactly who to recommend.

How to Be Social About Your Achievements

We have seen the importance of being social about your strengths. Here are a few pointers to ensure that you do it the right way, without coming across as self-serving:

  • Focus on your effort

People appreciate hard work. When speaking about the effort you had to put into your achievements, phrases like “oh it was nothing,” makes you appear arrogant. Talk about the challenges you had to overcome and how you worked hard to get it done.

  • Help others

Networking is never one-way. When you see others asking for help, do your best to refer them to opportunities you are aware of. What goes around does come around!

  • Be grateful

If you were helped by someone or the opportunity opened up because of someone, give credit where it is due. This will show that you aren’t seeking self-praise but are genuinely happy about the achievement and are thankful to those who helped you on the way.

Own Your Success

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobby Unser

Keep building on your personal brand, whether it is through your friends and family or through social media. Believe in your accomplishments and own your success. Wishing you the very best.

Using the Digital to Drive Real World Transformation: Points to Ponder for the C-Suite

real-world transformation

A 2017 Gartner survey reveals 42% of CEOs have already initiated digital business transformation, and 56% of them are already profiting from the initiative. What sets out these market leaders from the rest is their ability to intelligently and strategically use digital to drive real-world transformation in their business.

How are they doing it?

The Importance of Objective Research

Consider the research from ThinkJar, which places the cost of acquiring a new customer as six times more than keeping an existing one. Another research from Wunderman reveals 79% of US consumers prefer brands to demonstrate care for them before they consider a purchase.

Successful transformation efforts inevitably require strong, objective research to ascertain the genuine insights from the customer. To apply such research at the organizational level, the C-suite has to focus on digital transformation initiatives aimed at improving CX. For instance: deploy a strong AI based analytical engine to understand the mind of the customer, wants, preferences, behaviour, and everything they speak or think about the company, updated in real-time, with the context added for a better perspective.

The Criticality of Intelligent Software

The rapid growth of data flows, digitization of key systems and practically unlimited computing power has given rise to intelligent software.  Artificial Intelligence suites offer a significant upgrade over conventional data analytical tools by dint of its ability to work on huge swathes of data from multiple disparate sources.

A powerful AI-based engine can offer deep personalization capabilities by understanding the nuances of each individual customer to deliver tailored promotions delivered at the right time, using the right device. Such a truly customised DT initiative would herald the transformation of the enterprise from a “process organization” to a “caring organization.”

However, the golden rule is to keep customer perspectives in mind when driving transformation initiatives, Capgemini estimates 55% of consumers preferring interactions enabled by a mix of AI and humans, meaning a fully automated and impersonal CX may actually be counter-productive. Even for AI-based solutions, the overriding preference is for human-like attributes, such as human-like voice and intellect, ability to hold a sensible conversation, respond to follow up questions, and more.

The Importance of Design Thinking

Businesses increasingly accept design thinking as an effective problem-solving and innovation tool, and as the most effective way to understand a customer’s requirements. The core of design thinking, aimed at understanding the customer, is asking questions such as ‘what they do’, ‘why they do,’ ‘how they do’ and so on, and in the process identifying solutions.

Implementing design thinking within the boundaries of an agile framework requires a methodological approach of understanding the audience, defining the requirements, and creating new ideas to formulate innovative solutions for the requirements. The best approach creates prototypes of tentative solutions, and tests these out before committing to it wholeheartedly. The prototype based approach helps to create a high-quality model of the final product seamlessly, without having to run through the complete development life cycle.

The combination of Design thinking and Agile works wonders in integrating a team with people of different skill sets, backgrounds, perspectives and creative ideas. The approach offers the freedom to create digital “how” of the transformation, having understood the innate story behind the scene. Objective research into what the customer really wants, and applying intelligent software to drive change through design thinking helps in leveraging DT as a powerful tool for real-world transformation.

How Artificial Intelligence Enhances Customer Experience

Artificial Intelligence and CX


Artificial Intelligence Enables Better Data-Driven Decisions

And for good reasons. AI-powered systems process, sort and analyze copious amounts of data, extracting patterns much more quickly and deeply compared to humans or even first generation data analytic tools. AI systems also infuse an added dimension of context to the analytics, adding potency.

For instance, luxury hotel brand Dorchester Collection set a new paradigm by developing a custom AI-powered analytics system that leveraged content from the many online review sites to evaluate nearly 7,500 guest reviews from 28 hotels across 10 brands, to deliver the findings in a 30-minute video.


AI Understands Customer Needs Better

AI’s ability to consume and analyse vast amounts of data from various sources enable accurate and fast prediction of customer buying behaviour. For instance, an AI-powered system could collate weather forecasts to stock up on umbrellas and raincoats.

Today, few customers have the time or even the inclination to painstakingly type in their requirement and search the inventory.  AI’s image recognition capabilities allow the customer to simply click and upload the image of a dress she likes. The AI engine would locate a similar match from the stock inventory, or even better, work towards sourcing a similar dress from available sources anywhere in the world.


Artificial Intelligence Delivers a Human Touch to Automation

Gartner estimates that by 2020, 85% of a client’s relationship with a business will be managed without interacting with a human. Such widespread automation brings benefits in terms of accuracy, internal cost-cutting and process efficiency. However, unbridled automation comes with the risk of losing the personal touch, and with it the capability to get a nuanced understanding of the customer. Also, it is impossible to hand-program automated system with rules to handle every conceivable customer history.  

Artificial Intelligence offers the best of both worlds. Chatbots and other virtual assistants leverage AI to obey commands or answer questions, understanding customer requirements through simple conversations. AI powered solutions such as Amazon Alexa, Siri, and Nest thermostat, make recommendations, automatically order goods and services, and do more, after understanding customer preferences. The Intelligent prediction and customization that AI brings into the automation mix could make customers feel as if the brand experience was tailored just for them.


AI Drives Extreme Personalization

In retail, the top 1% of customers is usually worth 18x the value of an average customer.  Engaging with such high-value premium customers requires extreme personalization, which goes much beyond a customized interface.

Extreme personalization is breaking down customer segmentation to one and takes the form of customer-tailored promotions delivered at the right time to the right device, ensuring timely and relevant touch-points. The Royal Bank of Scotland delivers a good paradigm through its new AI-powered system, which flags customers who repeatedly overdrafts their account, and triggers appropriate bank personnel to contact the customer with financial advice.


Artificial Intelligence Powers Innovative Customer Service

Companies who innovate to offer a differentiated experience, while still being rooted in customer wants and preferences, enjoy a sizable advantage over their competitors.

Today, the overwhelming preference is for consistency across touch points. However, customer behaviors are chaotic. The rules of engagement are undefined and way beyond the comprehension of an ordinary data analytic tool.  Customer facing executives and call center agents often falter since they have no way to understand the customer’s entire history and derive insights from it in real time.

AI-powered advanced analytic engines find patterns across an overwhelming number of data points, overcoming such hurdles, and in the process deliver a coherent experience across all enterprise touch points. For instance, AI enables the call recording system to analyse customer sentiment during calls, transcribing it, and delivering it in a text file, for easy and effective follow–up, and co-opting text analytics to gauge customer sentiment.

Also read: The Importance of Analytics in CX and DT

AI Enhances the Integrity of the System

Consider the case of online ticketing. While offering a world of convenience to customers, it also raises the prospects of cyber-criminals unleashing advanced bots. These bots are especially active during live events (sports championships!) to buy up large blocks of tickets, depleting supply, and then instantly re-selling the same for mark-ups using forums such as Craigslist. Ticket sellers now deploy AI to rewrite the rules, enabling the system to identify and block scraper bots with ease.

The path to memorable customer experience lies in how effectively the enterprise can apply emerging technologies such as AI to enhance their capabilities. AI-powered CX will enhance the quality of interactions between the enterprise and the customer, improving customer trust, loyalty, and netting repeat business.

The Importance of Analytics in CX and DT Interventions

Analytics in CX and DT

Customer experience (CX) and Digital Transformation (DT) are the buzzwords for success in corporate corridors today. Top management has woken up to the competitive advantage on offer through CX and DT. They realize facilitating the customer and delivering an engaging experience is the route to success, considering more than half of all customers having switched providers just because of poor user experience.

Analytics – the Driving Force

The driving force behind CX and DT is data analytics. Advanced analytics allow enterprises to deliver better user experiences, leading to higher satisfaction and in turn greater customer loyalty.  Today’s fast-paced nature of business leaves no room for finding out what customers want or what they prefer by actually asking the customer.  Businesses have little choice but to ascertain customer wants and preferences proactively, by crunching data, and engaging with them on their terms.

A seamless app or a portal is no longer a big deal. Rather, what impresses the customer is an interface which recognizes their interests or preferences, preferably leveraging Artificial Intelligence to make choices for the customer. Netflix, Spotify and Amazon have already adopted the art of such personalization to a high degree of perfection. Personalization is not possible without crunching data of customer preferences, wants, needs, and sentiments.

A direct corollary to creating better CX is DT. The best DT initiatives stem from customer preferences, or making things better for the customer. Enterprises create new value for their customers by leveraging new technologies such as IoT and Machine Learning to disrupt existing models. Analytics connects these technologies to the enterprise platform, enabling insights which allow strategists to make smarter decisions, keeping pace with the speed of changes in the external environment.

Measuring CX

A fallout of data dominance is the need to quantify decisions and actions. It is not enough if someone at the top “knows” CX and DT will enhance customer engagement, and deliver rich returns. Today’s highly challenging and competitive environment places a premium on every investment dollar, and assurance of a positive ROI, made explicit in quantifiable terms, is imperative.

A methodological approach to measure CX, as expounded by research major Forrester includes prioritizing customer segments most important to the business as the first step. The enterprise next selects the level of experiences – discrete customer journeys, or individual interactions, again depending on what is most important for the business, to measure: overall relationship. Next, the enterprise defines CX metrics for the selected experiences, in terms of customer perceptions, what actually happened, and the business outcomes connected with each experience. The enterprise then collects data for the selected CX metrics.

Effective data analytics and comparing results with an internal benchmark for each metric would not just set performance targets, but also motivate both internal stakeholders and external partners to work towards improving CX in a mythological way. The insights a good analytics engine offers enable the enterprise to identify problems of individual customers, collate it prioritize broad-scale improvement opportunities.

End-to-end interaction metrics

The importance of data can never be understated. About 80% of data remains dark, or never actually used to improve CX. Many enterprises burn themselves out collecting data that they are not able to do the critical step of putting such data to analysis.

Again, the type and nature of data matter just as the quantity of data matters. For all the talk on the importance of live and real-time data in the scheme of things, only about 23% of companies are actually able to integrate customer insights in real-time, as a SAS study reveals. However, at the same time, enterprises caught on the real-time data trap run the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture.

What truly sets apart an enterprise is the ability to use both active and passive data to gauge customer sentiment not just at any one point of time, including current time, but to get an end-to-end understanding of CX data.

An end-to-end understanding of CX data not only reveals what the customer did but also the rationale of why he did so. For instance, live analytics would make explicit a customer who is making a “high effort.”  Business managers usually indulge in fire-fighting to facilitate such customers and resolve their wants. However, it could be the customer, having visited the website and not finding what he sought, turned to online chat and ended up dissatisfied with the partial or vague answers provided by the chat agent, ended up making two or more phone calls to indicate the “high effort,” and finally reached resolution three days later. Considering the end-to-end interaction metrics enables the business to address the root cause of the customer’s frustration, and make the necessary CX and DT changes, rather than merely offer a remedy the symptom.

Across the business landscape of today, the common thread running across market leaders is them having integrated analytics into everything, right from everyday discussions to formal contracts. They align appropriate internal resources with analytical skills and ensure each relevant business area feeds into the larger data management strategy.

A successful end-to-end data management strategy co-opts not just structured data but also various unstructured data even outside the provider’s systems. Twitter feeds, Facebook updates or any external source where customers indicate their mood, like or dislike for the product or service is useful in making course corrections and upgrades. Smart businesses adapt to procedures based on customer preferences rather than expect the customer to adjust to their internal process efficiency requirements, applying DT initiatives to cater to what their customers want.

Data improve the customer journey dramatically, but only for companies willing to be led to where the data leads them. Enterprises entrapped in the sentiments of legacy structures or incumbent products will find their CX and DT interventions stifled and pay a heavy price in terms of missed opportunities.

The Entrepreneur Roundup | Episode 14 | Harshad A M

Bassam

In today’s interview, Mukund Krishna, CEO of Suyati Technologies and a key member of the Kerala Committee for NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups Initiative, speaks with Harshad A M, CEO – Bassam Infotech. The company believes in serving the customers with a smile.

During the interaction, Harshad talks about the way his work experience in the Middle East helped him in starting his own company. He shares the insights gained during the entrepreneurial journey and also about the future plans of the company.

https://youtu.be/93szdsY1cLU

The Entrepreneur Roundup | Episode 13 | Suhail V.P

Nucore

In today’s interview, Mukund Krishna, CEO of Suyati Technologies and a key member of the Kerala Committee for NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups Initiative, speaks with Suhail V.P, CEO – Nucore Software Solutions. Nucore provides software solutions in the travel domain and has it clientele spread across thhe Middle East and Africa, mainly.

During the interaction, Suhail talks about the way the start-up ecosystem in the city of Kozhikode helped him in his entrepreneurial journey. He also shares the future plans he has for Nucore. A good listen for anyone who wants to choose entrepreneurship.

https://youtu.be/iKHu926ymrA

The Entrepreneur Roundup | Episode 12 | Faheem Moinudheen

Skewbird

In today’s interview, Mukund Krishna, CEO of Suyati Technologies and a key member of the Kerala Committee for NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups Initiative, speaks with Faheem Moinudheen, Co-Founder – Skewbird Technologies. The young entrepreneur talks about the way he chose this route instead of following the major crowd.

During the interaction, Faheem talks about the way Skewbird found its target market and the future plans of the company. He also shares his experience of taking up the entrepreneurial plunge in the city of Kozhikode.

 

https://youtu.be/snQGKi1I47E

The Entrepreneur Roundup | Episode 11 | Muthukumaran Ramanathan

CFS Healthcare

In today’s interview, Mukund Krishna, CEO of Suyati Technologies and a key member of the Kerala Committee for NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups Initiative, speaks with Muthukumaran Ramanathan, Founder – CFS Healthcare (WantedNote). He talks about his entrepreneurial journey and the way his exposure in financial and accounting background helped.

During the interaction, Muthu talks about the way NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups helped CFS Healthcare. He also explains about the way his work experience in different parts of the globe helped in understanding interesting business models.

https://youtu.be/BcnX3veTmKU